Tag: World Rally Championship

Motorsport Broadcasting has tracked the social media figures for a range of stakeholders over the past five years.

In the latest analytical piece, we look at Formula E’s growth across social media, Lewis Hamilton’s gargantuan reach, and how Twitter is fast becoming an archaic platform.

As always, this site uses publicly available data to piece the jigsaw together, such as the number of followers.

Whilst the figures presented do not give a reliable indicator as to the engagement per series, the figures do give an idea as to whether a championship or team is attracting a new audience, which is critical for the growth of the sport moving forward.

Championships
This site tracks the social media fortunes of thirteen different championships at a variety of levels. The list ranges from the likes of Formula 1 and MotoGP on a global level, down to the domestic championships, such as the British Superbikes series and the British Touring Car Championship.

As each entity operates at a different level, expecting the same amount of growth from all of them is unrealistic.

The series on the move from a percentage perspective is Formula E, having grown its social media following by 160 percent since the middle of 2018. From 893,000 followers last Summer, the championship now has 2.33 million followers, a staggering growth for the electric series.

However, analysis of the underlying figures raises some suspicions as to whether Formula E’s growth is all natural. Whilst their Twitter reach has stalled, their Facebook following has jumped significantly from 497,000 likes last Summer to 1.60 million likes currently, an unusual rise considering that growth was slow for the first half of 2018.

In comparison, Formula E’s Instagram growth is more natural: 217,000 likes in May 2018 to 361,000 likes in December 2018, and now 544,000 likes, with the percentage increases modest along the way.

The other big mover is Formula Two, whose social media following has increased by 65 percent in the past year. However, the raw volumes are low, as Formula Two’s portfolio of channels increased from 215,000 followers to 355,000 followers in the past year, Instagram contributing most to the gain.

MotoGP and Formula 1 continue to lead the way. Between December 2018 and now, MotoGP’s portfolio has increased by 1.12 million fans, with F1 jumping by 2.36 million fans. F1’s growth has actually slowed compared to last year, a legacy of how F1 playing catch-up on social media after years of neglect from Formula 1’s owners.

Formula 1’s presence on Netflix, with Drive to Survive, should help the figures grow, but to what effect is difficult to say. Although the Netflix documentary launched to a huge buzz within F1 circles during March, the impact it has may serve as an undercurrent to these statistics throughout the remainder of 2019 as non-F1 fans find the series, rather than present a ‘big bang’ effect immediately.

In addition to Netflix, F1 has made significant movements on the social media front in recent years, so any movement will be down to a multitude of reasons for them. The series has experienced a good first half of 2019 on Instagram, with F1’s number of followers increasing by 24.6 percent, from 5.60 million fans to 6.97 million fans.

An extra emphasis on Instagram helped the World Rally Championship in the first half of 2019. Their following on the platform increased from 734,000 fans to 996,000 fans, representing a larger than usual jump at 35.7 percent, and helping the series to a 9.8 percent increase overall across the main social media platforms.

F1’s teams
The same core principles apply when analysing Formula 1’s ten teams: Instagram growing, Twitter slowing and Facebook holding the core of the audience. However, Instagram is making serious inroads on Facebook on this front, and again is the place for stakeholders to direct their resources.

F1 and F1.5 gap is prevalent across social media, although McLaren joins the top three teams, with the remaining six teams forming F1.5. The story remains the same as before, as Red Bull continues to close the gap on Mercedes.

Between July 2018 and now, Red Bull’s following increased by 1.99 million fans, with Mercedes’ increasing by 1.50 million followers. Mercedes’ following continues to reach the edge, with McLaren recording a larger gain.

Red Bull continues to seize the initiative on Facebook. The Milton Keynes based team increased their following by 835,000 likes in the past year, compared with an average increase across the grid of just 135,000 likes. Mercedes have failed to improve their Facebook reach in nearly three years (stagnating at around 11 million followers), with Racing Point further down the grid also struggling.

Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari remain in close formation on Twitter with Ferrari having the edge, but Instagram is where all teams have seen their reach increase significantly. Since July 2018, McLaren’s audience on the image sharing platform has increased by over one million fans, with the other three big teams following behind.

The Netflix effect appears to have had, at headline level, a positive impact for Renault and Haas. Helped by the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo, Renault’s following has increased from 3.66 million followers last Summer to 4.27 million followers currently, a strong increase considering their growth figures had slowed somewhat up until that point.

Being a newer team means that the full impact of Haas’ increase is not apparent in raw volume, but a percentage jump of 39 percent cannot be overlooked. The increase helped them claw over the one million figure as well, just ahead of the now defunct Manor outfit at the time of their administration.

Outside of Haas and Renault, there are no other unusual increases. There may have been minor bumps due to Netflix, but nothing significant in the grand scheme of things.

F1’s drivers
Standing far above everyone is Lewis Hamilton, with 21.20 million followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, a gulf that increases by the day.

The combined following of the next nine drivers, from Ricciardo on 4.83 million followers down to Carlos Sainz on 1.33 million followers, is 21.48 million. In other words, nine smaller F1 drivers equals one Lewis Hamilton from a social media perspective!

Hamilton’s following on Facebook and Twitter have stalled, however his reach on Instagram has almost doubled since last Summer, moving from 6.89 million followers to 11.50 million followers, cementing his place at the top of the Grand Prix tree.

Behind Hamilton, Verstappen and Ricciardo made respectable increases, but further down the pecking order there are three success stories.

Despite being in only his second season, Charles Leclerc is already the sixth popular F1 driver on social media, and rising, with an increase of over a million followers in the past year, helped by his move to Ferrari and an ever-increasing Instagram presence.

The aura around Kimi Raikkonen has resulted in him becoming the fourth most popular driver on Instagram, despite having zero presence elsewhere on social media. Elsewhere, Lando Norris’ following is increasing rapidly across all social media platforms, as Norris’ following cross cuts both F1 and eSports.

As new drivers enter the sport, it is interesting to note how the skew for each driver moves increasingly towards Instagram and away from Facebook and Twitter. For example, 50.8 percent of Nico Hulkenberg’s following comes from Twitter, compared with 13.8 percent for Charles Leclerc. In contrast, 37.0 percent for Hulkenberg is Instagram related, versus 78.9 percent for Leclerc.

The younger drivers are far more likely to build a platform on Instagram in 2019, whereas the 2009 to 2014 generation of drivers focused far more on Twitter at that time, hence the wildly different skews.

If you manage any championship on social media, Instagram is the place to divert your resources. Facebook is still growing from a motor sport perspective, and remains by far the biggest social media platform, but has now fallen Instagram in terms of growth.

Facebook is better for long form content with Instagram primarily intended for short-form videos. Twitter is great for your existing audience, but not great if you want to hook new fans in, as the figures throughout this article demonstrate.

What content across social media has made your eye-brows raise recently? Have your say in the comments below.

The third of motor racing’s triple crown events takes place this upcoming weekend, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans!

As usual for UK fans, the race airs live on Eurosport for its entirety. Whilst the linear television channel will take commercials, the full race will air uninterrupted via Eurosport Player, with fans able to access up to three on-board angles.

Although the broadcaster has not officially confirmed the other personalities involved in their line-up, Motorsport Broadcasting understands that Terry Rymer, Mark Cole, and Carlton Kirby will lead the commentary team.

Thirteen hours of Eurosport’s offering will also air on Quest, the free-to-air broadcaster covering the start and finish, as well as proceedings throughout the night.

For those of you wanting a different flavour to Le Mans, organisers of the World Endurance Championship are providing their own service via the WEC app. Martin Haven and Allan McNish lead the in-house team for Le Mans.

Elsewhere, MotoGP heads to Spain, while Italy plays host to round eight of the World Rally Championship.

The European season for Formula 1 starts with a bang, with a ton of action to whet the appetite.

Joining the F1 party is Jenson Button, who is with Sky Sports in Spain for the first of his five races this year. Elsewhere in Sky’s line-up, Ted Kravitz is back on the side-lines until Canada, although Kravitz fans can see him as part of the W Series line-up this year.

Oddly, Sky’s race day schedule reverts to their 2018 format with Paddock Live shortened back down to 40 minutes and not airing (from an EPG perspective) until half past the hour. In the commentary box, expect Martin Brundle and David Coulthard to return to Sky and Channel 4 respectively after their absence in Baku.

Formula Three returns in Spain, the championship succeeding GP3 Series in the third-tier on the F1 support package. Race coverage airs live on Sky Sports F1, although qualifying airs on a small tape-delay following their Friday F1 wrap-up show.

Outside of the F1 circle, the Monaco E-Prix for Formula E is slightly unique: there is no Shakedown, the race starts 30 minutes later than usual and, like F1, the local host takes control with little input from Aurora.

As Jack Nicholls is on Formula E duty, Jolyon Palmer will be joined by Tom Gaymor on Formula 1 practice duty for BBC Radio 5 Live in the latest commentary merry-go-round. Marc Priestley joins Palmer for qualifying.

This weekend is packed with motor sport, as Formula 1 heads to Azerbaijan for round four of the 2019 season. Will Ferrari claw the gap back to Mercedes, or will Baku signal Ferrari’s end game this year, only four races in?

On the broadcasting front, there are changes for all UK F1 broadcasters. Starting with Sky Sports, Natalie Pinkham to their line-up for the first time this season. Like last year, Martin Brundle is taking three races off this year, the first of which is this weekend, Brundle instead is racing at the Nurburgring. No word yet on who is stepping into the commentary box, but previous form would suggest Paul di Resta steps into the fold.

Azerbaijan marks the end of Sky’s simulcasts on Sky One, with qualifying and the race airing exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. A slight difference is that The F1 Show airs 45 minutes after qualifying instead of 30 minutes, as was the case for the first three races, a good move allowing for further post-qualifying analysis before The F1 Show airs.

Mark Webber replaces David Coulthard in the Channel 4 commentary box for the first time, Coulthard opting to take three races off this season. Eddie Jordan and Lee McKenzie join Steve Jones and Billy Monger in the paddock for Channel 4.

Over on 5 Live, Jack Nicholls’ Formula E commitments in Paris means that he is not on practice or qualifying duty. It is an unusual weekend for Formula E: not only is the series airing on tape-delay on BBC’s Red Button, it also finds itself airing behind BT Sport’s Red Button for the race itself.

Formula E plays second fiddle to football, rugby, hockey, tennis and WRC All Live on BT, whilst repeats of The £100k House and Your House Made Perfect air over on BBC Two (of course, the Formula E contract stipulated for one race to air live on BBC’s terrestrial channels, and that has already happened).

Nevertheless, fans can still watch full Formula E World Feed coverage via a variety of outlets, including YouTube after Formula E decommissioned their bespoke YouTube show.

Beyond the two leading single-seater racing championships, there is much more action with the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship and World Touring Car Cup all in action across the weekend.

On a side note, following the recent Motorsport Broadcasting survey, moving forward the site will also list whether the series in question is streaming the action live via YouTube or via their own in-house platform.

From Australia, Formula 1 heads onto Bahrain, for the second round of the 2019 season.

2016 Drivers’ Champion Nico Rosberg and Anthony Davidson join Sky Sports F1 for the first time this year. As announced during Melbourne, Ted Kravitz returns to their weekend coverage in China. Sky are again airing the race across both their F1 channel and their general entertainment outlet Sky One.

The Grand Prix faces tough competition, as qualifying on Saturday starts at the same time as the 15:00 football matches, whilst the race goes head-to-head with Liverpool versus Tottenham, a match that could prove pivotal in the Premier League title race.

Channel 4’s highlights air later in the evening, the race programme starting at 21:00, with Billy Monger providing analysis alongside David Coulthard and Steve Jones.

Excluding adverts, the length of the highlights show is not too dissimilar to the BBC highlights show for Bahrain. From 2012 to 2014, the BBC’s three race day shows lasted 80, 95 and 90 minutes respectively, although the amount of action in Channel 4’s show this Sunday will be shorter than BBC’s previous efforts.

Elsewhere, in the Sky Sports F1 schedule, Natalie Pinkham’s pre-season interview with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo gets a 30-minute run-out at various points in the build-up to Bahrain, whilst the Formula Two series returns for a new season.

Further west, Argentina plays host to round two of the MotoGP season, and the World Rally Championship heads to France for the Tour de Corse.

NOTE: Clocks go forward one hour on Sunday 31st March, with the change from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time. The times listed are for GMT on Saturday and before; BST for Sunday and afterwards…

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